RWB Exhorts Cuban Authorities to Clarify Angel Santiesteban-Prats’ Situation

RWB Exhorts Cuban Authorities to Clarify Angel Santiesteban-Prats' Situation
Posted on August 12, 2014
Published Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Cuban writer and blogger Angel Santiesteban-Prats disappeared from the
jail at San Miguel del Padron on July 21, 2014. Authorities at first
said that he had escaped; nevertheless, ten days later his daughter
managed to speak with him briefly at a police precinct. His whereabouts
are still unknown.

After having denounced the disappearance of Angel Santiesteban-Prats
from the jail where he had been since April 2013, his relatives are
worried about the accusation of attempted escape.

They have not yet been able to learn the Cuban writer and blogger's
version, but his family suspects that this new complaint is unfounded
and its only purpose would be to increase his sentence to captivity.

The only person who has been able to see Angel Santiesteban-Prats since
his disappearance has been his daughter. The interview only lasted ten
minutes and was in the presence of a police agent; during this time the
father, therefore, had no opportunity to speak freely. Since the said
encounter occurred, the authorities have reported nothing about the
writer's situation, and rumors grow.

"Reporters Without Borders exhorts the Cuban authorities to explain
clearly the current situation of Angel Santiesteban-Prats," said Camille
Soulier, head of the Americas' Office of said organization. "The risk
increases for the blogger each day that passes without news of him. We
demand his immediate liberation and the withdrawal of all and each of
the accusations brought against him. The repressive methods of the Cuba
regime increasingly resemble those days of the 'Black Spring.'"

It has been more than a year since the author of the blog "The Children
Nobody Wanted" found himself behind bars by virtue of his ostensibly
critical position towards the Cuban government. In December 2012 after
an expedited trial he was found guilty of "home violation and assault"
and was sentenced to five years in prison. In April 2013 he was
transferred to the prison center of San Miguel del Padron where he
suffered torture and mistreatment.

His recent disappearance conincides with an interview given by his son
last July 15 on Television Marti, a news channel with headquarters in
Miami. In that interview, he affirmed that he had been forced to
corroborate the false accusations against his father. Also, according
to Eduardo Angel Santiesteban, the "hero of the report" has never
assaulted his ex-wife, and the judgement is a mere sham.

Cuba is in place number 170 among 180 countries in the 2014 edition of
the World Classification of World Press Freedom by Reporters Without
Borders, occupying the last place among countries of the American
hemisphere.

Published by Reporters Without Borders

Click the link to sign the petition for Amnesty International to declare
Cuban dissident Angel Santiesteban a prisoner of conscience.

Translated by mlk.

6 August 2014

Source: RWB Exhorts Cuban Authorities to Clarify Angel
Santiesteban-Prats' Situation | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/rwb-exhorts-cuban-authorities-to-clarify-angel-santiesteban-prats-situation/